GOING ABROAD: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai will be shown at San Francisco film festival in March

Florida: The cinema of the Indian Diaspora is the focus of the 21st San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) to be held from March 6 to 16.

The 10-day event kicks off with British Indian filmmaker Gurinder Chadhas Bend It Like Beckham.

A big hit in Britain and India, Fox will release it in the USA soon.

Also to be screened at the festival are Mehboob Khans 1957 classic Mother India and Karan Johars blockbuster Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Indian American filmmaker Benny Mathews comedy Wheres The Party Yaar? and New York filmmaker Vivek Renjen Balds look at the British Asian music scene, Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music are on the schedule too.

To add a little variety, Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahujas documentary Bollywood Bound as well as Indian filmmaker Mahesh Dattanis daring, queer tale Mango Souffl will be screened.

Ivan Jaigirdar and Camille Ramani will curate the 3rd South Asian International Shorts 2003 shorts programme.

Included in this selection of shorts from India, UK and the USA are Rajshree Ojhas Badger, Hardeep Singh Kohlis The Drop, Avie Luthras A Family Business, Yousaf Ali Khans Skin Deep, Nilesh Patels A Love Supreme and Tanuj Chopras Butterfly.

Why the focus on Indian cinema? Festival Director Chi-hui Yang has the answer: Over the past decade there have been many exciting developments in Indian cinema: an increasing appreciation for commercial Indian cinema in the west, the rise of several important Diaspora makers (Chadha, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair), as well as a burgeoning independent Indian American film scene.

Yang feels that each of the movements reveals different stories, experiences and filmmaking styles within the Indian Diaspora, a global community linked by culture, history and cinema.

Cinema of the Indian Diaspora provides a showcase of both independent and commercial cinema from the US, UK, Canada and India, to reveal the creative and cultural connections between Indian filmmakers and communities in these different regions.

Other countries screening films are Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.